ISABEL'S

WHAT OUR FAMILY HID

It was Friday afternoon, around 8pm. I got home after an exhausting and long day of work. I had a bath with the salts that my daughter gave to me as a present for mom’s day. Then I put on my pajamas and ordered chinese food. When I finished eating I layed on the sofa while listening to relaxing music. It seems that finally this was my time to relax, after long weeks of hard work. My eyes were closing, I was about to fall asleep, but suddenly I heard my phone ringing. It dropped out of my hands when I heard the news. I was shocked. Isabel

I was unable to recognise the phone number. I picked up the phone and I recognised the voice, it was my husband. I asked him if he had had any problem at work. For a few seconds he did not answer, I was starting to worry. Then, he said “I’m in jail”. For a moment, I thought he was joking. Then, I asked him “How is that possible? You were supposed to be in your night shift” My husband answered “I’m sorry, I can’t talk much now. You have to come here and I’ll explain you everything” tut… tut… tut.. The phone call ended. Sofía

Immediately I called my mom so she could take care of my daughter. When she arrived she asked me what was happening and I told her what I knew.  As always she started saying me “I told you from the very first moment I didn't like that guy” “look what has happened, now you have to be responsible of his actions” bla...bla….bla….I just ignored her, kiss my little daughter and went out road to the jail to look for my husband. Moe

When I arrived to the police station ,everyone was rowdy but I didn’t care at all and went straight to the counter .I asked for my husband , for some reason,  they told me that I couldn’t see him , that instead I should be calling a lawyer . I was so confused and frustrated , they didn’t let me talk to him and the police refused to give me any type of information ,so I called my lawyer , he told me to wait for him to arrive to the police station , he was on his way. Roxana

As soon as he arrived, I asked him what was going on, but he didn’t have a clue. After minutes of uncertainty, I was finally able to see my husband, and have time for a small chat with him, he did not want to tell him what he had done, he told he was innocent and that he would be back home soon, and me, as the idiot deluded by love that I was, believed him. Pedro

Surprisingly, the police let him go back home, but they told him that wasn't the end of the situation. The way back home was extremely uncomfortable, I was driving waiting for him to speak up. He didn't say anything, not an explanation, not a "thank you", nothing. He was looking through the window, patiently, he didn't seem worried. Suddenly I heard him screaming, I looked forward, a car just a meter away from us going in the opposite direction. Everything turned bright white for a moment, then black. Ana Pérez

He had been arrested by corrupt police officers following José Manuel Villarino’s orders. He had been a whistleblower to the police in the investigation following the burning down of the headquarters in Madrid of a legal advice firm called Delonta. Then, he had been arrested on false charges of theft, but a judge called Basaltar García forced his release. Miguel 

Now, my husband was threatened by some anonymous people, they had a very ridiculous name, I do not remember at all that name, but I think it was something as the Salvatrucha Gang. Anyway, they demanded more than one million dollars, or they would kill all of us, including my family, and obviously, we could not say anything to the police. Even though we were being threatened, my husband did not say me anything, so I started making questions. Gonzalo 

“What’s happening? Do you know something?” I asked him. That moment he turned towards me, looked at me with the coldest eyes I have ever seen and said: “ I’m really sorry about what is happening. I didn’t want you involved but please,COULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP?” That moment I started fearing him. I had never seen him in that attitude. The man who I was supposed to love and know, seem like a complete stranger to me. Andrés 

Then a flashback came into my mind, the day we met. We were both walking our respective dogs in that beautiful day at the park. He asked me for a bag to pick up his dog’s depositions and I just had to do something to keep talking to him. He just looked like the most precious man I had ever met. We spent some time chatting and finally I asked him out, he said yes and I just felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Manuel

Everything was perfect, I was having the life of my dreams, my own house, a husband who loves me and a little girl, who turned to be the true love of my life. The years started passing by. Exactly, almost two years ago, my husband started behaving weird, he was arriving late from work and not talking to me at all. So this was the time to ask him if all this had started because he had cheated on me with someone really bad, someone of that gang they have mentioned me before, but his response was something I would never forget in my life… Elisa 

He told me that his father was the head of a huge drug ring, and that the passed two years, his father had been preparing him to inherit the “family business”. Due to all these facts, all world-wide gangs have been chasing him in order to kill him or forcing him to get married with them, regardless their gender, in order to also inherit the gang. Jacobo

When he told me about the proposals, i asked him if any of the girls caught his attention, and after a long time thinking the answer he gave me was “No, I am in love with you and I could never love anyone else”, but...I knew he was lying to me, so I started thinking about the possibility of him having an affair which ended bad, and now the family of the girl wants him to pay for it. Laura

There was an easy solution; take my daughter and my mom to any other place in the world, far from there. I was totally convinced that I loved that man and that being with him was the only thing I wanted. But that man it's a great motherfucker. I mean, how is it possible to hide from more than 15 years who his father really is and what does he work for. I'm crazy if I still being confident with such an idiot. I risked my life for him and he didn't care for us! I had to pack all my stuff and get away from there. Javier 

After the long car ride from the police station we finally got home. I was really tired and exhausted so I told my mother I would explain her everything the next morning. 

I woke up really early, I couldn't sleep at all, the fact that the man i love lied to me for 15 years was killing me on the inside but i couldn't just stop there i needed to get my sister and my mom out of that house as fast as i could. I had a really good friend from my childhood that lived in Thailand so I called her and she told It was ok if we spent some weeks at her house and that is what we were going to do. I woke my mom and my daughter and went straight to the airport, I didn't want to hear anything about that man ever again. Sergio 

It was a good plan theoretically, but, as the fate did not feel up for easing my life, everything turned into a mess. Later on, that afternoon my husband came to my house just looking for me. He found no one but the computer on with a fight ticket in the direction of Thailand. From that moment he understood everything. In a jealous and spitefulness rage, he phoned the leader of Yakuza and ordered them to exterminate his woman, baby and mother-in-law. Nicolás

The next day we were already in Thailand with my sister.  At first my sister did not know what was happening but as soon as she saw my face she knew it and also knew that it was not going to be just a few weeks that we were going to stay there, but a long time, because I didn't want to see again that bastard. On the other hand the leader of Yakuza had started to persecution, following the husband orders. Ana Baños

We were very lucky, depending on how the perspective, as everybody was forced to stay in their homes due to the coronavirus, meaning the Yakuza was not able to go freely through the streets, as there were military soldiers patrolling the streets of Bangkok, the city they were going to stay in, meaning they were safe for the next two months, or even more. Carlo 

The pandemic prevented me from getting a job, so I compensated by cooking and cleaning. She repeatedly told me that it wasn't necessary, and that she was just happy to have company during what would otherwise be a very lonely quarantine, but I wanted to repay her in some way.

One evening, while I was making us both tea, we heard a knock on the door. She noticed that my hands were full and she went ahead and opened it without checking who it was, thinking it was a package. A bad habit of hers. A man with big bloodshot eyes was on the other side. He was on a walk with his dog, but what caught my attention was that it was tied to a rope instead of a leesh. He peered through the door frame, ignoring my friend's questions. When our eyes met, he let go of the dog, which started charging towards my daughter who was playing in the living room. I immediately let go of the tray and the porcelain teacups and kettle shattered on the wooden floor. I was running towards my daughter, but that dog which was three times bigger than her, was faster. Alexa 

My daughter noticed it and the only thing it came to her mind was starting crying as she felt that she was unable to run from that giant beast. The dog pounced over my little and poor girl and started biting her with such an anger that with a single bite it teared apart her whole arm and  threw it like a chewing gum to the wall leaving a huge blood spot that I never managed to clean, I jumped over that disgusting creature and started hitting it as my life depended on it, with just three punches I managed to get it out of combat but I didn’t stop until I sent it to the other world. Stefan

I turned my head and the man that was at the door disappeared. I ran desperately and grabbed my phone to ask for an ambulance. My daughter was in so much pain that she couldn't stop yelling. Luckily, the ambulance was fast, and in 10 minutes, we were already in the hospital. The doctors took my daughter to a room, meanwhile, I was in the waiting room to see her when they would let me in. I couldn't control myself and started to cry. I was heartbroken because from now on, I would be seeing my daughter without an arm and the difficulties that may come with it. I needed to find that man and to figure out who he was. Maybe coming to Thailand was not a good idea after all… Ariana

The police told me that they knew who that man was. He was a very violent and dangerous member of the Yakuza mafia, which luckily, they had just arrested. At first he did not want to answer any questions from the police, but after a little bit of torture, he said that he had orders for killing my daughter, mum and me. I started to cry because I realised who gave him those orders. It was my husband. I told the police who my husband was and they told me that I should go back to the U.S and collaborate with the D.E.A in order to arrest him. And that's what I did after my daughter recovered. José 

Just when we arrived to the U.S airport, a black car that belonged to the D.E.A picked up us and they took us to the secret base of these. With my daughter recovering on a good and safe place with the best sanity, I was able to focus just in my fucking ex husband, he had to be in the jail after what he did to us.

Thanks to the special forces of the government, after one week searching for him, he was arrested and took to the secret base in order to  be interrogated. After all the protocoles, he was accused of belonging to an illegal gang, assassination attempt towards his daughter as well as all the other murderers he did and possession of drugs. These factors were able to sentence him to the electric chair, which lead to his death. Hugo

20 years has passed since this episode of my life, my name is Charlotte and I'm the daughter. After this episode, my mother started developing mental illnesses which led to her retention in a mental hospital, 6 years later, she died. I found this writings in a drawer of our old house and I wanted to finish it. It is quite difficult to me writing this due to the fact that this episode has been really traumatic to me and that I only have one arm, as it tells in the history.

It has been very hard learning to live with this, none little girl deserves such a bastard as a father, neither my poor mom, who had to leave her skin to get us ahead of this and deal with me and with all the stuff that happened that year.

This is a story for you to see that not everything in this life goes as well as one expected. My mother and I won't never forget about this, wherever you are I want you to know that thanks to you I have been able to have a life, I love you dear mom… Pablo